The use of a vector gas for spraying paint is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,635,921. This conventional technique has been thoroughly developed and constitutes the subject matter of numerous patent applications, such as European Patent Application No. EP-A1-0 208 247, U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,852 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,519.
Spray devices are presently available on the market under the trademark ECOSPRAY™. These devices are suitable for applying paint to a non-keratinous medium.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,430,506 discloses a spray device which includes a tank on which two nozzles are fixed. The nozzles are connected to a compressed air inlet and can emit air jets which meet in a region situated over a substance feed orifice. This device requires an external source of compressed air and a feed hose.
It is also known to apply makeup by using an airbrush having an applicator stylus connected to a cylinder of compressed vector gas. The applicator stylus includes a vector gas ejection nozzle and a cup containing the makeup to be applied. The makeup is sucked progressively via a duct into the cup by the suction created by the Venturi effect due to the speed of the vector gas leaving the nozzle. This type of airbrush can render the boundary between treated zones and non-treated zones less visible, thus producing blending and shading-off effects or impressions of volume. Hand action is also different since the makeup does not need to be spread out after it has been deposited on the keratinous medium. Makeup is thus applied very hygienically since application may be done without making contact with the fingers or with an applicator.
Such an airbrush is also disclosed in Canadian Patent Application No. CA-A-2 152 406, for example. Similar devices are sold by DINAIR under registered trademarks BEAUTY ART™ and BODY ART™, with the cylinder of compressed vector gas being replaced by an air compressor. In these conventional devices, the applicator stylus and the vector gas source do not constitute a unitary structure but they are interconnected by a hose. As a result, these devices are relatively bulky and are intended mainly for professional use. They cannot easily be carried around in a handbag, as are conventional makeup accessories.
French Patent Application No. FR-A-2 781 208 discloses a device having a unitary structure for spraying a composition onto a medium. The composition is selected from a plurality of compositions of different tones. The composition is sprayed by suction caused by a vector gas jet expanding in the vicinity of a substance feed member. The vector gas jet is emitted through a nozzle whose axis is contained in the same plane as the axis of the feed member.